


Fool's Mate

by AchillesMonkey



Series: Fitz and Friends [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Bad Puns, Bus Kids - Freeform, Chess, Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:59:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8050189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AchillesMonkey/pseuds/AchillesMonkey
Summary: Skye does not know how to play chess. FitzSimmons teach her. Set early season one.





	Fool's Mate

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: [Link](http://unlessimwrongwhichyouknowimnot.tumblr.com)

Skye lay on her bed in her tiny cubicle of a room on board the Bus, arm over her eyes. Her whole body ached from training with Ward. There were a lot of muscles that she’d never known existed. But she knew about them now. She just wanted to lie there forever and never punch another punching bag again. Maybe she could use Ward as a punching bag. That would be satisfying after all the torturous physical training he’d put her through. She was certain that half the stuff he made her do was purely for his own entertainment.

“Checkmate!” she heard Fitz cry out happily from the seating area outside the bunks.

“Ugh, Fitz!” Simmons responded. Skye had only known them for a couple weeks, but she knew that Simmons was also rolling her eyes at the Scottish engineer.

Skye got off of her bed with a groan and went to see what they were doing. She found them sitting across from each other in the armchairs, a chess board on the table in front of them. They were busy setting up the pieces for another game.

“Hey,” she said, making her presence known.

“Oh, hello, Skye,” Simmons said, smiling brightly at her. “How are you?”

“Sore,” Skye told her with a bit of a pout. “Ward is a sadist.”

“It will take your muscles time to adjust to more strenuous activity, but it will be beneficial when you go on missions in the field,” Simmons told her, somewhat pompously. “Fitz and I had to go through similar training before joining the team.”

“We took one class to prepare us for our combat test and we failed,” Fitz spoke up. “Would you like a go, Skye?” he asked, indicating the chess board.

“Um…”

“Oh, yes, you should have a go,” Simmons said, getting up from her seat so Skye could sit down. “Chess is an excellent way to build strategic thinking skills, which is another important asset to have in the field. We aced that part of the exam.” She directed that last bit to Fitz, poking him on the arm as she sat down on the arm of his seat.

“Do you, er, know how to play?” Fitz thought to ask as Skye sat down across from him.

“Yes,” Skye told him with a confident smile that quickly dropped as she looked at the white pieces in front of her. “Well, sort of. White goes first, right?”

She picked up the pawn third from the right and moved it forward one. Fitz moved his pawn fifth from his right forward two spaces. Skye chose the pawn that had been to the right of her first pawn and moved it forward two spaces. Fitz moved his queen. “Checkmate.”

“Oh, dear,” Simmons said softly.

Skye grinned sheepishly at them. “I knew I wasn’t very good, but I didn’t know you could lose that badly.”

“It’s okay, Skye,” Fitz told her, moving all the pieces back to their starting spots.

“We’ll just have to teach you how to play!” Simmons said, looking thrilled at the prospect. “Let’s start with the basics.” She picked up Fitz’s black king. “This is the king. The goal is to protect the king at all costs.”

“I already know that!” Skye protested. “I know the pieces and what they’re called and how they move and what the point of the game is. I'm not completely ignorant.”

“It never hurts to have a refresher lesson,” Simmons said.

She continued her lecture on the different pieces, the way they moved, and some simple strategies like castling. Fitz also chimed in and the pair did that thing where they finished each other’s sentences. Skye didn’t know how they did that. Maybe they were psychically linked? Was that a thing? Aliens were a thing, so why not?

“So now you know the basics!” Simmons finished her lecture with a pleased smile.

“Let’s go again,” Fitz told her.

She did better the second game. She made it past the two moves before losing that time at least. The third game she did even better, but that was because Simmons had moved from the arm on Fitz’s chair to the arm on Skye’s chair and whispered what moves to make in her ear.

Ward entered just as they were setting up a fourth game. “Skye, time for strength training.”

Skye groaned. “But I’m in the middle of strategy training with FitzSimmons,” she told him, motioning to the chess board. Maybe she could get out of strength training if she was doing something else worthwhile?

“I can add it to the list of things you need to learn. Now, come on. The weights aren’t going to wait.” Ward headed downstairs as Skye and FitzSimmons looked at each other.

“Did—did Ward just make a pun?” Skye asked.

“I think he did,” Fitz said.

“He’s not very good.” Simmons commented.

“Well now we know there’s another thing I’m better at than him,” Fitz said, looking pleased.

Simmons scoffed. “You? Good at puns?”

Fitz made a noise of outrage. “Simmons! I am too good at puns!”

FitzSimmons began bickering as Skye stood up. “Thanks for teaching me chess, guys.”

“You’re welcome, Skye,” they chorused together before going straight back into their argument about Fitz’s terrible puns.

Skye smiled as she made her way downstairs. FitzSimmons were definitely odd, but they were also very caring, and she felt that eventually the three of them would become very good friends.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! And thank you to everyone who leaves kudos and/or comments!


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